A Dissertation by GRACE HUI-CHIN LIN Submitted to the Office of ...

talked in a continuous way through using simpler, but understandable words.
It was more important to use a simple and correct word instead of a high-level
word which took a long time for us to figure out.
Using simpler words might cause misunderstanding, but it somehow should
be useful. For example, if I were overseas, I might use a lot of replacement
strategy for surviving. I would say “Car Drink” to represent “Gasoline,” a
“House” to represent “Palace.” Or, I might say it is similar as a “Chateau.”
Another example, an overseas Chinese who has a car accident, he may call
119 (emergency call number in Taiwan) and say “Oinn Oinn” (sound of an
ambulance) to express that he needs an ambulance. He might say a “Target
Building” he sees nearby instead of saying the “Address.”
After 10 weeks of training, Cheng Chih described that he needed to use this strategy
with people who were very familiar with the ongoing topic. He gave his suggestions
on how meaning replacement should be applied:
My partner could not catch what I meant if I used a meaning replacement
strategy to talk about something he was not familiar with. For example, if I
used “Heart” to replace “Engine” of a vehicle, some people who were not
familiar with a car could not catch the meaning of engine. I could use
meaning replacement strategy to communicate with people who were familiar
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with the field I was talking about. I think they wouldn’t be confused if I used